Johnny Gaudreau was as advertised for the Blue Jackets in his first season, even if Columbus struggled to get going as a team.
Gaudreau did fall short of his point total from the year prior in Calgary when he finished second in the NHL in scoring, but he consistently was the straw that stirred the drink for the CBJ offense. He finished with 53 assists among his 74 points, totals that were good for fourth and fifth, respectively, in franchise history. Gaudreau also posted just the sixth-ever five-point game in franchise history in a March win at San Jose.
Still, Johnny Hockey has even higher hopes, especially when it comes to wins and losses, as the seven-time All-Star is embracing a leadership role with the squad in year two of a seven-year contract.
Gaudreau met with the media Sunday to discuss the upcoming season. This conversation has been edited for clarity and length.
It was your first offseason as a dad after the birth of your daughter, Noa, last season. How did that go?
“A lot of family time. Everyone wanted to hang out with her, so it’s great.”
They’re there to see her now, not you.
“Exactly. It was an awesome summer. We spent so much time with our family. Throughout the year, I got to do that too. That was pretty important for me when I was trying to figure out where I wanted to play. You guys already know how important my family and my wife’s family are to me. We spent a lot of time on the Jersey Shore and on the beach and stuff like that. It was relaxing, but you’re watching playoff games, you want to just get back. But yeah, it was a good summer.”
You’re a veteran at this point. When you go home for the summer, is there a routine or certain things you want to work on coming off of a season? Do you have a good sense of how you want to approach it?
“I have a pretty good sense at this point. I like to skate as much as I can, obviously get in the gym a lot, but I like to be on the ice a lot. A lot of guys like to take time off, but for me, I’m on the ice a lot more than a lot of players in the summer.”
When you look back on it, how much did the injuries really hurt you guys?
“Anytime someone is playing well, they’re going down and they’re injured, it hurts for sure, but I’ve said this plenty of times – it gave me a lot of opportunities to get to know a lot of guys in this organization. I think it made my time coming to camp this season the second year here a lot easier getting to know everyone, already knowing most of the guys. Try to take the positives out of it, but it was rough watching all the guys go down.”
From a leadership standpoint, last year you wore an “A” at times. Does that drive home how important you are to this?
“Yeah, it’s exciting anytime you can be a leader on this team. And you don’t even have to wear the ‘A’ to be a leader. We have a ton of leaders in there who don’t wear them, but when you have that responsibility, it’s important to just chat with younger players or have a talk with them, sit down and pick their brain and stuff. It doesn’t always have to be on the ice. I think we have a good group of guys in our locker room who take that pretty seriously, being a leader and trying to help the young guys.”
Are you sensing that with Patrik Laine, too, that he’s taking on a little bit of a leadership role?
“It’s great. That’s what we need out of him. It’s not all just goals for him. When he comes to the think, he’s excited to be there, just chatting, giving guys a hard time and stuff like that. That’s when Patty is playing his best, I think. It’s fun. He’s a great guy. I love playing with him. I love being his teammate. When he does pull that mind-set out of him, I think he gets a lot out of the younger players and the older guys, too.”
What’s it like to work with new assistant coach Mark Recchi? He can relate to the position you’re in of being a guy that puts up a lot of points.
“To have a guy who’s been so successful and has played a long time in his career, the young guys can relate to him. Even us smaller guys, we have a handful of smaller guys on this team who can see how he did it in what was probably a much tougher era than what we’re in. To see him do it in an era like that, it’s just going to help us.”
